The Hebridean World: Its Human Ecology Through Time (Historical Geography and Geosciences)

The Hebrides has long been seen as an area that, when considered over time, was slow to absorb change. Indeed, from the nineteenth century onwards, it attracted the attention of scholars for being seen as having not just the oldest rocks in Europe but also, some of its oldest cultural practices and institutional forms. This unchanging ‘archaic’ character has continued to attract a great deal of research but, over recent decades, a counter view has emerged that highlights the changes that the region did experience. This book argues the case for the latter by drawing out how the institutional forms around which the region and its farming communities were organised changed over time. As background. It highlights the importance of understanding two key inter-related features that underpinned these changes: the low output of Hebridean farming with its high frequency of poor harvests and the range of environmental hazards that beset the region. Brought together, the interaction between these two features makes the survival strategies adopted by communities an important part of the region’s history. Because society/environment interactions are at the heart of the problem, the book’s discussion is presented as a study in human ecology. One of the benchmark studies of the region in modern times, or Sir Fraser Darling’s The West Highland Problem: A Study in Human Ecology (OUP, 1955) adopted such an approach. This book gives this human ecological perspective on the region a greater time-depth. In addition to a Preface and an Epilogue, it is divided into 12 chapters: Title: The Hebridean World: Its Ecological History Through Time Preface 1: The Hebrides: Their Physical Endowment and Its Challenges 2: The Oldest Cultural Landscapes 3: The Hebridean Mix: Picts, Scots and Vikings 4: How Land was Occupied Before Crofting 5: How the Land was Farmed before Crofting 6: Landscapes of Summer: the Shielings 7: The Inter Tidal and Beyond: the Harvest of Shore and Sea 8:Survival on the Margins 9: The Landscapes of Crofting 10: The Harvesting and Processing of Grain 11: The Clearances for Sheep and Deer 12: Hebridean Housing and Settlement Epilogue Preface Contents About the Author Abbreviations List of Figures List of Plates 1 The Hebrides: Their Physical Endowment 1.1 The Hebrides: Their Geological Setting 1.2 Changes in Sea Level 1.3 The Formation of the Machair and Its Instabilities 1.4 The Development of Peat Cover 1.5 Were the Hebrides Once a Wooded Landscape? Bibliography 2 How the Earliest Human Communities Adapted to Their Setting 2.1 The Earliest Hebrideans Bibliography 3 A Fusion of Cultures: The Picts, Scots and Norse 3.1 The Indigenous Picts 3.2 The Emergence of the Scotti 3.3 The Norse Imprint Bibliography 4 How Land Was Occupied Before Crofting 4.1 How Land Was Assessed and Its Meaning 4.2 When Were Land Assessments First Introduced? 4.3 How Land Was Set 4.4 How Were Runrig Touns Laid Out on the Ground? Bibliography 5 How the Land Was Farmed Before Crofting 5.1 Rents and the Field Economy of Touns 5.2 Assessments, Rents and Patterns of Husbandry 5.3 The Anomaly of Enclosures: Pre-runrig Survivals? 5.4 The Forces of Change Bibliography 6 Landscapes of Summer: The Shielings Bibliography 7 The Inter Tidal and Beyond: The Harvest of Sea and Shore 7.1 Fishing 7.2 Shell-Food 7.3 Strandings, Haul-Outs, Driftwood and Wrecks 7.4 Fowling and Egg Collecting 7.5 Seaweed and Kelp Making Bibliography 8 The Harvesting and Processing of Grain Bibliography 9 Survival on the Margins 9.1 The Climate-Based Risks Facing the Hebridean 9.2 The Risks from Offshore 9.3 Strategies of Survival 9.4 How the Potato Changed the Ecology of Output 9.5 Environmental Impacts and Land Degradation Bibliography 10 Crofting: An Uncompromising Adaptation 10.1 A Chronology of the Croft 10.2 The Birth of the Crofting Township 10.3 The Spread of the Crofting Township 10.4 How the Crofting Township Changed 10.5 Crofting After the Great Famine Bibliography 11 The Clearances for Sheep and Deer 11.1 The Clearances for Sheep 11.2 The Reinvention of the Sporting Estate Bibliography 12 Hebridean Housing and Settlement 12.1 Beyond the Norse 12.2 Traditional Housing in a Time of Change 12.3 Housing as a Cyclical Process 12.4 Changes in Scale and Plan? 12.5 Changes in the Raw Materials of House Construction 12.6 Byres and Beyond 12.7 The Blackhouse 12.8 The Problem of Creaga 12.9 Housing and Social Ranking 12.10 Housing in Its Context Bibliography 13 Epilogue 13.1 Highland Farming Touns Before Crofting: A World Lost in Time? 13.2 The Hebridean Farming Toun: An Open or Closed Ecosystem? Bibliography Glossary